Machine for dimensioning and sorting machined articles



Ailg 31, 1937. c. L. HOMMEL MACHINE FOR DIMENSIONING AND SQRTING MACHINE!) ARTICLES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 13, 1934 &

INVENTOR ATTORNEY-S Aug. 31, 1937. c. HOMMEL MACHINE FOR DIMENSIONING AND SORTING MACHINED ARTICLES Filed Sept. 15, 1934 s She ets-Sheet 2 fizz /25L. $67764 ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 31, 1931 MACHINE non nmensrome msoa'r Y me mcuman narrows Charles L. Rommel, Detroit, Mich assignor' to '4 Bower Roller Bearing Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application September 13, '1934, Serial No. 743,858

18 Claims.

, invention relates to means for dimensioning and sorting machined articles, and one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a machine for automatically handling and sorting roller bearing or other rolls, according to certain dimensional limits, the machine being constructed to facilitate such dimensional determination sional limits from those which are outside those limits.

Afurther object is to embody in such a machine, means for feeding the articles through the gauge or gauges with just sufllcient force to pass the article freely through its gauge when that articlc is within the dimensional limits set by that pass freely through the first gauge it will be reauge, but which force will be automatically limited by the resistance, .ofiered by a slightly oversized article, to. passage through the gauge. It is also an object to provide an arrangement of gauges or templates whereby the gauge of the article between certain high' and low limits may be determined by providing a series of such gauges having openings of different dimensions, whereby if an article be of too great a dimension to 1 jected, and if it passes therethrough but is of too great dimension to pass through the second gauge, it' will be retained as coming within such limits, and if it passes through said second gauge it will be rejected as of too low a gauge.

It is also an object to provide a continuously driven machine, with means for intermittently feeding rolls or similar articles to the gauges or templates, together with feeding means for feeding therolls through the gauges and driving and .useful features, all as hereinafter set forth and more particularly pointed out inthe appending drawings in which ledclaims, reference being had to the accompany- Fi'gure 1 is a vertical section substantially upon UNITED ST A C F the line of Fig. 2, of a machine illustrative of an embodiment of the present invention;

'Fig. 2 is a vertical section substantially upon the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 isa sectional detail of the roll ejecting mechanism; a I

Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view substantially upon the line 4-4 ofFig, 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail upon the line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a sectional detail of Fig. 1; and

V Fig. 7 is a sectional detail upon the line l--" ofFig.'1.

As shown in the drawings, I indicates a suitable supporting frame having a substantially flat top or table 2, provided with horizontal ways 3 for a pair of horizontally recipro'cable spaced apart feed plates 4 and 5 with an intermediate plate 6 fixed to said ways and positions between said feed plates 4-and 5 adjacent their inner ends, said plate 6 being formed with an-upstanding rib I forming a stop' to be engaged by the inner end of feed plate 5 and limit its inward movement effected by a spring 8 attached to its outerprouponthe line 6-6 jecting end and to said frame, said spring being? normally effective to hold said feed plate in engagement with saidstop with a slot 9 in said feed plate in alignment witha roll feed passage I0 formed in a block or casing I i above, said casing l I being secured to said ways 3 upon the table 2 and formed with a cylindrical bore in whichis mounted a cylindrical feed drum l2 formed with spaced apart peripheral notches or recesses l3 into which the rolls H or other machined articles drop as these recesses pass the mouth of a hopper l5 supported upon the casing H and into which-hopper a supply of the rolisis placed.

The feed drum I2 is continuously rotated by means of a pulley 16 on the outer end-0f the drum shaft H to the inner end of which said drum is secured, this pulley being driven by a 'belt I8 running over a second pulley IS on a drive shaft 20 mounted in a suitable bearingeon the lower part of the frame I some distance below the table 2, and the outer end of which drive shaft is provided with a drive pulley 2| by means of which power may be applied to drive the several moving parts of the machine. Rotation of the feed drum-l2 thus feeds the rolls from said hopper and deposits them,-one at a time, into the upper end of the feed passage l0 as ahotch in the drum carrying a roll, comes into registry with the upper open end of said passage, keeping said passage filled with rolls which are held therein said slot 22 to rest upon the upper surface of slide plate 4 until such time as said slide 4 is moved endwise to bring a roll slot 23 adjacent the end thereof, into registry with said slot 22, when it will drop into said slot 23 and be carried forward by the return movement of said slide 4. a

This forward movement of slide 4, moves the roll held in said slot 23 along the upper surface of the table 2 toward the first gauge or template for testing or measuring the diameter or other measurement of the roll, said gauge as shown comprising a pair of bridge bars 24 spanning a slot or opening in the table 2 and rigidly secured at their ends to said table with a space between 25 their adjacent side edge within notches in which edges are secured hardened blocks'25, the adjacent surfaces of which are very accurately spaced apart to fix the high gauge of a roll passed therebetween by the forward movement of the feed slide 4, that is, the distance between said blocks,

fixes the maximum roll diameter acceptable, and therefore if the roll passes between these blocks with comparative freedom, this determines that it is not over size.

To determine whether or not the roll passed through the first gauge, is of lesser dimension than the low gauge limit, or minimum acceptable dimension, a second gauge of the same construction as the first, but having its blocks 25 set Just slightly closer together, is spaced from said first gauge, and therefore if the slide 4 carries the roll through this second gauge with little resistance, it will show that the roll dimension is below low gauge and the roll will drop out of slot 23 as the slide is projected beyond the second gauge, and the roll will pass out of the machine as rejected.

If the roll being tested should be of high gauge, that is, of too great a dimension to pass through the first gauge without setting up but little resistance, this increased resistance will stop the slide 4 due to the construction of drive for said slide, presently to be described, and the roll will be positioned outside the gauge and upon the upper surface of a discharge member 23 of U- form in cross section to embrace the lower bridge bar 24 and extend upwardly, at each side thereof to the plane of the table top. I 'his discharge member is formed with a projecting arm 21 pivoted to the frame i at 28 and provided with a tail portion 29 engaged by a spring pressed plunger 30 normally tending to swing said member 25 downwardly and hold it in contact with the, periphery of a cam 3| secured upon the in- 5 nerlend 'o'f-fthe drive shaft 23, and therefore when said cam is turned to bring its low side in contact withsaid discharge member, said member will be swung downwardly and discharge the high gauge roll resting thereon, into a discharge 70 chute 32 and out of the machine, to be retained and reground to proper dimension. Those rolls which pass through the first gauge but are of too great a dimension to pass freely through the second gauge, are stopped between said gauges 75 and rest upon that portion of .the discharge member 28 which fills the space between'said gauges and when said member is swung downwardly by the operation of the cam 3| will be discharged into asecond chute 33 as being of proper dimension, they being between the high and low gauge limits. The rolls are thus automatically fed from the hopper, gauged, and then sorted into the three separate classes according. to the gauge limits. The rolls may, however, be sorted into more than three classes by adding one or more gauge units to the series and extending the travel of the feed slide accordingly, also providing one or more additional discharge members or other suitable discharge means.

To move the slides 4 and 5 in proper timed relation to the rotation of the cam 3| and operation of the discharge member 26, a pair of arms 34 and 35 is pivotally supported at one end to swing freely upon a cross supporting shaft 36 located-adjacent the lower end of .the frame. A connecting rod 31 is pivotally attached at one end to said cam 3i eccentrically thereof and at its opposite end to the arm 34 intermediate the ends thereof. These arms 34 and 35 extend normally side by side and are operatively connected. to swing together, by mounting upon the upper end of the short arm 34, a solenoid 38 with its core in opposed relation to the adjacent side of the arm 35 so that upon energization of said solenoid, it will attract the arm 35, drawing said arm toward the arm 34 so that said arms will swing together until such time.

that the resistance to the swinging of arm 35 exceeds the pull of said solenoid, when said arm slide 4 which is actuated by arm 35 extending up 5 through an opening in said slide. The upper end of this arm 35 is also extended upward through a longitudinal slot 33 in the upper slide 5 and this slot is of such a length that when said arm is swung to the limit of its movement in a direction to move the slide 4 away from the gauges and bring the slot 23 therein into registry with the roll slot 22 in the fixed plate 6, said arm 35 will come into contact with the end of said slot 33 in said slide 5 and move said slide against the action of its spring 3 to bring its roll slot 3 into registry where it will drop into slot 23 when said slot comes into registry with said slot 22.

By employing the electromagnet to connect the arms 34 and 35, the pull or strength of this magnet may be very accurately regulated and determined so that when the feed slide 4 is moved forward by the swinging of the arm 35 and meets undue resistance due to the dimension of the roll being greater than the gauge opening, this resistance being slightly greater than the pull of the magnet, will overcome such'pull and permit the arm 35 and slide 4 to stand still while the arm 34 continues to move. This magnetic pull can be so regulated that it will not force the roll into the gauge and cause it to jam therein and this magnetic pull rapidly diminishes as the magnet leaves the operating arm 35, thus bringing the slide immediately to rest with the roll in position .upon the discharge member, to be discharged thereby either through the chute 32 or 33 depend ing upon which gauge has blocked the passage of the roll therethrough, and should the roll be under size and thus pass freely through both gauges, this pull will be sufiicient to project the slide through both gauges and discharge the roll at the end of the machine.v

Obviously machined. articles other than rolls may be gauged and sorted and the gauging may be as to diameterii or any other dimension, and the number of classes into which the rolls or other articles may be sorted, may be increased by increasing the number of gauge units. Further, any suitable means may be employed to effect the discharge of the gauged rolls into separate discharge chutes, and the construction and arrangement of the elements of the machine may be further varied within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit 1:; of the invention, and such changes are contemplated; 1

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim is: O

1. In a machine for the purpose described. the combination of a pair of spaced apart and horizontally aligned gauges eachof a diilerent gauge than the other, a horizontally reciprocabie feed slide, means for reciprocating said slide to feed articles through said gauges, article discharging means forming article supporting surfaces in the horizontal plane of the lower face of said slide at opposite sides of said first of said gauges and over which surfaces said slide is reciprocabie, and means for operating said discharging means in timed relation to the movements of said slide. 2. In a machine for the purpose described, the combination of a pair of spaced apart and horizontally aligned gauges each comprising a pair of rigid fixedly spaced apart members to permit an article of lesser gauge to pass therebetween and to form a stop for others, a horizontally recipro cable feed slide, for positively feeding articles to be gauged, said slide being projectable through all of said gauges, power means for reciprocating said slide, means for operatively connecting said slide and power means and operative to effect a disconnection thereof upon the presentation to either of said gauges by said slide, of an article of a dimension too great to pass freely there- 5 through, and means operative to separately discharge articles stopped by said gauges, whereby sorting of said articles according to limits set by said gauges is effected.

3. In a machine for the purpose described, the

combination of a pair of spaced apart and horizontally aligned gauges each of a different gauge than the other, a horizontally reciprocable feed slide, means for reciprocating said slide to feed articles through said gauges, including a pair of pivoted arms arranged side by side with one arm extended and operatively connected to said slide to reciprocate the same, a solenoid mounted upon the other arm to attract said first named arm and operatively connect said arms, a power shaft, means" for transmitting motion from said shaft to swing said solenoid carrying arm, article discharging means forming article supporting surfaces at opposite sides of one of said gauges, a chute to receive articles from each of said surfaces, and a cam on said power shaft for operating said article discharging means 4. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a supporting frame, a horizontal feed slide reciprocabie on said frame, a pair of gauges mounted upon said frame and through which said slide is projectable to feed articles therethrough, a hopper and feeding means beneath said hopper supported on said frame above said slide for feeding articles to 7 said slide, an article discharging member having article supporting upper surfaces at opposite sides of one of said gauges and over which surfaces said slide is reciprocabie, a power shaft mounted on said frame, a cam on said shaft for raising and lowering said discharging member, a 5 pair of arms pivotally supported at their lower ends on said frame for independent swinging movement, one of said arms being extended and operatively engaged with said slide, a solenoid mounted upon the other of said arms' for operatively connecting the same to swing together, and means for transmitting motion from said shaft to swing said solenoid carrying arm.

5. In a machine for the purpose described, the combination of a frame having a top provided with horizontal ways and an opening at one end of said ways, a pair of gauges including bridge bars spanning said opening with said gauges spaced apart, a pair of independently movable feed slides mounted in said ways with the lower of said slides arranged to be projected through said gauges and formed with an article receiving opening adJacent one end, a fixed plate between said slides and formed with an article receiving opening into registry with which said opening in said lower slide is adapted to be brought by reciprocation of said lower slide, a casing on said frame above said slides, a feed drum in said casing, said casing having a feed passageto receive articles from said drum, the lower end of said passage being out of registry with said opening in said fixed plate and said 'upper slide having an article receiving opening normally in registry with the lower end of said passage and adapted to be brought into registry with said opening in said fixed plate by movement of said upper slide, a discharge member embracing one of said gauge bridge bars and having upper surfaces at opposite sides of said bars over which said lower slide is reciprocabie, means for raising and lowering said discharge member, a pair of parallel independently pivoted arms, one of which isextended through an opening in said lower slide, 'a sole" noid mounted upon the other of said arms to operatively connect said arms to turn together, and power means for swinging said solenoid carrying arm.

6. In a dimensional sorting machine, the combination of a series of separate stationary gauging units, each unithavin'g rigidly spaced apart gauging instrumentalities: means for propelling between said instrumentalities, of an article to be gauged, each unit forminga stop for said means, said means being stopped by resistance offered by said instrumentalities, to the passage of said article therebetween; movable means arranged in advance of each gauging unit, to support an article when brought into engagement with said unit and movable to discharge said article stopped by said unit; and'means for operating said discharging means in timed relation' to said propelling means.

7. In a dimensional sorting machine, the combination of a series of rigid, stationary gauging units, each unit having rigidly spaced apart gauging instrumentalities for permitting or hinder-- ing the passage therethrough of articles to be gauged; means for propelling toward said instrumcntalities, of an article to be gauged; means for actuating said propelling means stopped in its movement by resistance to the passage of an article between said instrumentalities, means pi otally supported in advance of each gauging uni and forming a support for an article stopped "b resistance to its e between said inst'ru'r'nen f talities; and means for operating said discharging means in timed relation to the moggnent of said propelling means.

8. In a machine for the purpose described, the

combination of a gauge comprising fixed opposed and spaced apart members, a slide movable into and through said space between said members to feed articles to and through said gauge, a pair of power applying members one of which memhers is engaged with said slide to reciprocate the same and the other of which members is power I actuated, and means carried by said last named member for connecting said members to move together and for breaking said connection upon resistance to movement of said slide offered by resistance of an article to passage through said gauge.

9. In a machine as characterized in'claim 8 and wherein said means for connecting said members comprises a magnetic device mounted upon one power applying member to attract and hold within the limits of its attractive force, the other member.

10. In a machine for the purpose described, the combination of a table, a slide mounted upon said table for longitudinal reciprocation, a plurality of gauges each including bridge bars extending transversely of the path of movement of said slide with their adjacent sides spaced apart to provide a space through which an article to be gauged is'moved by said slide, means for feeding articles, one at a time, to said slide, means for separately discharging articles stopped by a gauge from those stopped by another gauge, a

. power actuated member, a member to engage said slide, and an electrically controlled device for l connecting said members and for disconnecting the same upon excessive resistance being.of-

fered by one of said gauges ,to the passa e of an.

40 article therethrough.

11. In a machine for the purpose described, the combination of a table, a feed slide reciprocable on said table, article feeding means above said table and slide and having an article feed passage, a second feed slide having an opening to register with said passage and receive one article at a time therefrom, a fixed plate between said slides and having an article receiving opening out of registry with said passage and opening in said second named slide and having a longitudinal slot, saidfirst named slide havingan opening opposite said slot, an operating arm pivotally supported at its lower end beneath said table with its upper end projecting through said opening and slot in said slides, a plurality of gauges extending transversely of the path of movement of said first named slide and through which said slide is adapted to be projected 'a power arm pivotally supported for swinging '60 movement toward and from said operating arm,

power means for swinging said power arm, and a solenoid mounted upon, said power arm to attractsaid operating arm and cause said arms to turn together. as 12. Amachine as characterized in claim 11 and including means for separately discharging arti- 'cles stopped by each gauge, said means comprising a discharge member pivotally supported with its upper surface in the plane of the upper sur- 70 face of said table at the forward side of one of said gauges, and means for swinging said discharge member in timed relation to the reciprocation of said slides..

13. In a machine for the purpose described, the combination of a table, a feed slide reciprocable prising a pair of bridge bars on said table exlongitudinally upon said table, a gauge unit comv apart for the passage of said slide therebetween, article discharging means having parts normally lying at opposite sides of the lower of said bridge bars with the upper surface of said parts extending in the plane of the upper surface of said table to form a support for articles moved thereover by said slide, said means being'movable to eflfect the discharge of an article resting thereon, power means for reciprocating said slide, and means for moving said discharging means and slide in timed relation.

14'. A machine for the purpose described as characterized in claim 13 and wherein said article discharging means comprises a pivotally supported member of U-shape in cross-section to embrace said lower bridge bar and said power means' for reciprocating said slide comprises a pair of arms pivotally suported at their lower ends with the upper endof onearm engaged with said slide, an electrically energized solenoid mounted upon the other of said arms to cause said arms, by the attractive, force of said solenoid, to swing together and to permit said arms to swing independently upon resistance to movement of said slide, caused by resistance of an article to passage through said gauge; and wherein said means for moving said discharging member and slide in timed relation includes a drive shaft, a cam on said shaft to engage and swing said discharging member, and a crank and connecting rod for transmitting motion from said shaft to said arm upon which said solenoid is k mounted.

15. In a machine for the purpose described,'

the combination: of a plurality of alined and spaced apart gauges each comprising rigidly spaced apart members, a feed member reciprocable through said gauges between said-mem-- bersthereof. for feeding articles successively through said gauges'along a straight path, power means for reciprocating said feed member, and means for connecting said feed member and power means and operated by the resistance to the, passage of an article fed thereby between 17. In a machine for the purpose described,

the combination of a plurality of spaced apart gauges arranged in alinement and each including fixed spaced members, a slide for feeding articles through said gauges between the members thereof, power means for reciprocating said slide, and means for operatively, connecting said power means and slide including a pair of arms and an' electro-magnet mounted upon one of said arms for holding said arms by the attractive power of. said magnet, to turn together.

18. In a'machine for the purpose described, the combination of a pair of spaced apart and alined gauges, eachof a different gauge from the resistance to the passage of an article through'either of said gauges for effecting a disconnection of said power means from said feeding means, and pivotally supported discharging means forming a support for each article at the 5 entrance to each gauge.

CHARLES L. HO. 

